"Cultivate entrepreneurial spirit", ITF Boss urges Veritas students

Students of Veritas University, Abuja have been urged to  cultivate and nurture entrepreneurial spirit as the issue of unemployment soars in Nigeria.

The Area Manager of Industrial Training Fund ( ITF), Aba,  Engineer Mike Emeka Afadi gave this charge on behalf of the Director-General, Prof. Longmas S. Wapmuk, OON at the Students Industrial Works Experience Scheme (SIWES) orientation exercise that took place on Thursday, February 24, 2011, at the Take-off campus, Obehie, Abia State.

The ITF boss noted that SIWES programme was designed by the Federal Government to expose, prepare and give students of tertiary institutions the opportunity to relate and translate their theoretical knowledge to practical applications.

Engineer Afadi advised the students to use the Industrial Training period wisely to acquire practical skills.

The ITF Area Manager expressed gratitude to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Ker, OON and the entire  Veritas University community for organizing the sensitization programme, calling on the students to be good ambassadors of Veritas University, Abuja (The Catholic University of Nigeria)in their various places of attachment.

Welcoming the ITF officials to the University, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. David I. Ker,OON called for the cooperation of the Industrial Training Fund to ensure that the students have good Industrial training as  the two institutions were partners in training. He reiterated that SIWES was a policy of the Federal Government to provide graduating students industrial experience.

In his remarks before the plenary session of the programme, the University Director of Academic Planning, Dr. Gabriel Egbe stressed the importance of SIWES as an academic requirement in line with the minimum standards provided by the National Universities Commission (NUC) for graduation for science-based and engineering courses resulting in the utilization of the entire second semester of the 300 level for the programme which covers a six month duration.

The Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Dr. Bernard Matur who represented the Vice Chancellor at the Plenary Session noted that the orientation programme will help in achieving the mission of providing Veritas students with integral and holistic formation that combines academic and professional training. He urged the students to pay attention to the resource persons so as to acquire relevant information that will enable them have a successful industrial training.

The SIWES Coordinator, Mr. Bede Anyaegbunam pointed out in his opening remarks that the Industrial training was designed to provide an avenue for the students to acquire industrial skills and experiences in their course of study and

“also provide students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in real work and actual practice, to make the transition from school to the world of work easier and enhance students’ contacts for later job placement”